Do Parents Regret Wacky Baby Names Later?

You’ve probably felt buyer’s remorse, but what about namer’s remorse? A unique name like Mowglis or Boulevard might sound like a good way to set your child apart from all the Jacob‘s and Isabella‘s when you name him, but once your baby starts to develop a personality and go to school with his unique name, will it still sound so perfect?

Celebrity parents continue to lead the wacky baby name charge. Or should we call it a competition? Alicia Silverstone named her son Bear Blu; Mariah Carey called her twins Monroe and Moroccan; and Antonio Sabato Jr. just gave his newborn the Hawaiian middle name Kamakanaalohamaikalani — at least it’s a middle name.

TODAYMoms even found a name-happy mom who gave her daughter seven unusual names instead of just one. The list includes Astravaganza and Angeletta, but not the name her 15-year-old daughter goes by today — Lola.

Perhaps your kids will thank you later for if you give them a popular name.

I get a little tired when I see everyone’s child named Emma or Jacob, but I get more irritated when I see children inflicted with names like Wookiee Cookie or Bean Dip. Surely there’s a happy medium somewhere.

For the record, my son’s name is William–common but a special name in my family.

by Hannah Hord

On May 10, 2011 at 12:53 pm

I named my daughter Scarlett Fae, and her father’s family hates it because they cant give her a nickname that sounds good with scarlett. I was going to choose Scarlett Isabella as a matter of fact…

by Becky

On May 10, 2011 at 1:02 pm

I’ve got a Stephanie Anne and a Harper Grace. Neither name is really unusual, but there aren’t many girls in our area with those names. I like to be a little “different,” but not wacky!

by Dana

On May 10, 2011 at 2:53 pm

I named my baby Aimee… it’s a relatively common, although not too common, name, with an uncommon (but not ridiculous or unheard of) spelling. I’ve taught for 6 years and have had a few Amy’s but only one Aimee (by the way I have about 600 students a year so those are low odds). I’ve had many more students named Juan and Maria

by Samantha

On May 10, 2011 at 3:39 pm

I can’t stand the names the celebrities are giving their kids, I don’t know why you would do that to a child. My kids all have different names but nothing that makes you say “does she not like her children”…my son’s name is Bryce Anthony, and my daughters names are Melina Lucille and Maclayne Kay. I wanted strong names that people would remember as they grew up but not because they were too far out there. All of their middle names come from our families.

by Shannon HH

On May 10, 2011 at 3:39 pm

My girls are named Jada and Mila (the latter pronounced Mee-lah, like Mia but with an L). Everyone gets Jada OK but Mila gets mispronouced all the time, lots of “My-la’s” – I blame Miley Cyrus. I spelled them how they “are spelled” and wasn’t going to get all wacky with it just to make it easier on people to know how to pronounce.

by Jamie Robins

On May 10, 2011 at 3:43 pm

My daughter’s MIDDLE name is Marijke. We figured most people don’t use their middle names often or just use the 1st initial. She is named after her grandmother who passed away before she was born. Marijke is the dutch form of Mary, if we had used it for her first name we would have gone with Mary but felt Mary was a bit too plain for us. I love how Hailey Marijke flows. I like her brother’s name too, David Anthony.

by Meghyn

On May 10, 2011 at 3:43 pm

I named my son Tucker Chase… i love it, every time i say it, see it, or hear it i love it more. His name fits him, it was important to me to give him a name that is normal and easy to pronounce but yet uncommon enough to limit the chances of him having another child with the same name in his class. My name is Meghyn (odd spelling but common name) and i was always one of at least 2 if not three in my classes. I hated it.

by plaw170

On May 10, 2011 at 3:45 pm

I named my girls Rayna and Jordan we oddly enough shorten them to Ray and Jo so everyone thinks Ive got two boys. Rayna was as odd as I was going Ive heard it a few times and only met one other person with it. The new girl (due july) will be Avery Isabella we had that named picked out before the twilight faze and will be calling her Isabel, though I was pushing for Avery.

by Cheri

On May 10, 2011 at 3:52 pm

My daughter named her daughter Jynnessa, she chose the name by what she wanted her nickname to be, Jynni (Ginny) a unique spelling. No too common right now.

by Sarah

On May 10, 2011 at 3:53 pm

My girls names are Lainey, Evangeline and Kenley, and I have been surprised by how many people can’t seem to even begin how to say Evangeline. We do also call her Evie, and that is what most people tend call her.

by Brittany S

On May 10, 2011 at 3:59 pm

We named our daughter Daniella Klaire…. we call her by her middle name because thats the name we originally wanted but it didnt flow well switched up. I spelled it with a K because i wanted something a little different.

by Kara Anne

On May 10, 2011 at 4:00 pm

We have a Dreyden Thomas and a Delaney Grace.

Not too unique. But unique enough to set them apart.

by amanda

On May 10, 2011 at 4:02 pm

I’ve got an Elijah Tobey and a Zoe Jane…and I LOVE their names!

by Katelyn

On May 10, 2011 at 4:09 pm

Throughout my entire pregnancy with my daughter, I knew I would name her Rebecka Faith, but when she was born she looked NOTHING like a “Rebecka.” So my husband and I came up with our own name for her. Erylin; it’s kind of like a mix of “Erin” and “Lynn,” and it fits her absolutely perfectly. I wanted a name that was different, but not something that kids would be able to use as a means to tease or use to hurt my daughter.

by Sarah

On May 10, 2011 at 4:18 pm

My girls’ names are Sophia Quinn and Ayden Victoria. Sophia is common, Quinn not so much. Ayden is not common for a girl, but we’ve met a few since naming her. I figure I gave them each an unusual and a more old fashioned name. They can choose what they prefer when they are older. They are 2 now. Their names suit them perfectly. I like that I can shorten them up. I always wanted a nickname. Ayden is often called Addy.

by Tiffani

On May 10, 2011 at 4:24 pm

I named my oldest who is 12 Jade Marie…back then is was uncommon enough to be different…my new baby girl is Peyton Rylie…also not too common but both fit each girl perfectly!

by Ashley

On May 10, 2011 at 4:25 pm

I named my son Weston Paul…fits him perfect!

by Jaclyn

On May 10, 2011 at 4:28 pm

I love my name “Jaclyn”. But ppl always short it to Jackie anyways. So even if you give your child a cute name it will often get shortened anyways. We named our son, Rylan & we LOVE it! it really suits him, and I’ve only met one other lil guy named that. We often shorten it to Ry, Ry Guy etc. But no “teasing” names can be rhymed with it other then “smilin’ Rylan”. lol

by Lissa

On May 10, 2011 at 4:58 pm

My son is “Sullivan Gaige,” and I still love it. I went through all the possible nicknames, bad initials, mean names…I like “Sully,” which is what we sometimes call him, “Van” is OK, and there isn’t much you can do to make fun of it!

by Lisa

On May 10, 2011 at 5:03 pm

We named our son Nicholas Cedric….the Cedric came from combining both of our dads’ names….EDward and Rick. So, since Edric wasn’t usual, we went with Cedric.

And we love it. And it suits him.

by Corrna

On May 10, 2011 at 5:40 pm

My daughters name is Lillyonna. I love her name and have only come across one other child with the same name. It may not be really odd but it’s not your typical Lillian. I grew up with a name that is a little different then most and loved it. There were a dozen Amanda’s, Lisa’s, Jessica’s, and Jill’s in our school but at the time I graduation I was the only Corrina. My name has become more popular over the year but not many spell it the same. My son’s name is Tjaden (Jayden) one of the years most hatted boys names from what I understand, but to keep it a little different I spelled it as it originated. It originally was a last name. There is more then one way to make a name a different

by Kim

On May 10, 2011 at 5:45 pm

I named my daughter Katy Arianna. I think it suits her quite well. Everyone asks what Katy is short for — but it’s not short for anything. Everyone also misspells it (Katie) or mispronounces it (Kat, Kathy, Catty…)

by Lyz

On May 10, 2011 at 5:54 pm

I spent my whole life trying to name my future children, but when I got pregnant and it became “real” I heard the name Sophia and just knew that’s what her name would be. Her full is Sophia Avanelle. Avanelle is a family name. I love it because I overhear people saying all the time she actually looks like a Sophia, which was my biggest fear.

by Kristine

On May 10, 2011 at 6:01 pm

Working in the nursery at a hospital I see too many weird and made up names and spellings. When I had my babies I wanted different names that were NOT going to be goofy later. So we went with
Shantel, Kallie, Keegan and Finnegan….real names, but NOT common.

by Toni

On May 10, 2011 at 6:13 pm

I named my son Damien, who is 21 now. His dad and I could not agree on a name. He wanted to name him Kelly. I thought it was too sissyish… I almost wish I would have named him Kelly now, because he was most definately a “Damien”. :/

by Allison

On May 10, 2011 at 6:14 pm

I love my kids’ names! It took us forever to find a boys name that we liked when we were pregnant for the first time. We knew that the middle name would be Powell for my maiden name, but needed a good strong, not too common, not too unusual first name. We found Shawn after exhausting baby name books and doing random searches online. Shawn Powell is perfect and suits him! Charlotte was not the name we intended for our first girl but after Shawn was born, friends used our ‘first choice girl’s name’ Emily. Having picked out Charlotte for our second girl’s name it was high on the list. Quite early on it became the only name on the list. Charlotte’s middle names are Helen Irene for two of her great-grandmothers. After difficulty in the pregnancy, we decided that she needed all of the guardian angels she could get. Charlotte Helen Irene suits her perfectly – and we do not shorten her name to Char. If her name is shortened, we call her Chi.

by Moriah

On May 10, 2011 at 6:16 pm

I love my son’s name even if my family is not so fond of it. It fits him. Wesley James and I love it.

by shiela

On May 10, 2011 at 6:25 pm

my son’s name is Noah Ace… it was supposedly Noah Gabriel but i stick with the Ace because it is my brothers name… If I will have a baby girl Id probably named her Bryce Spade…

by Annicka

On May 10, 2011 at 10:36 pm

When I was expecting our LO we agonized over names the whole time. We went into the hospital for him to be born with a list of 6 names… all of them solid classics, but not overly common. As soon as he was born we knew he was destined to be Thomas Franklin, and we were right. The little booger is a Tommy, through and through.

by Adrienn

On May 11, 2011 at 2:27 am

When i was pregnant with my son my husband and I didn’t want to give our son a name that is very popular or common and I admit it was hard for us to find a name that we could agree on. But then one day while watching a tv programme we heard the name Jasper and decided to name him that.

by Celeste

On May 11, 2011 at 5:33 am

I’m an American,living in Denmark,so trying to find a name that’s different (tired of Søren,Mads,Trine,Pia,as well as Emma,Jonathon etc),but not wacky. Something beautiful,if it’s a girl,and beautifully masculine,if it’s a boy. I would like to slightly mix the American and Scandinavian cultures and,of course,it has to be pronounceable in both Danish and English. Never realized how hard it could be!
Also,I just want to state that this super wacky name-thing that seems to be going on is a little much. I’m all for unusual names and pushing the boundaries with things,but at a certain point,I just wonder why people don’t get a pet that they can name something like Inspector Pilot,or whatever that one was. Pets are the ones in our family we can get outrageously wacky-crazy with.

by Carita

On May 11, 2011 at 11:35 am

My daughter’s name is Rayna Morgen. I originally had my heart dead-set on “Klea” pronounced “clay-uh” but after showing dozens of people and them sayin “clee-ah” I decided I couldn’t do that. So it was back to the baby names book. I had wrote down the name “Rayne” for a middle name, I went back to the page and it originated from “Rayna” I read it a few times and liked it so I said it outloud and my fiancee said “wait, Rayna?” I replied “yeah…I like Rayne, but Rayna is nice too” he said “that’s it, her name is Rayna”. So that’s what we went with, but I needed a middle name then, so after a few days my fiancee sent me a text that said “Rayna Morgen” he found the different spelling on a website somewhere, apparently it’s the German spelling of the name, accompanied with the Scandinavian Rayna, her name means “mighty morning” which definitely fits considering she decided to meet the world at 6:05 am! I love her name, its not too different but its not common, I like both spellings of her name, and they can’t be slaughtered by substitute teachers in school.

I grew up with an uncommon name “Carita” for some reason no one ever pronounced it right….its the phenetic spelling “cuh-rita”. Not hard. For most. But I always shortened it to “Cari” which always got mispelled.

by karie

On May 11, 2011 at 12:15 pm

my name is Karie named for my grandmother Carrie my mother didnt want to spell it the way everyone else did. I wanted to name my daughter Naila but a male frined pointed out that boys would say nailher as a joke and i could never get that out of my head. i named my daughter Cassi (no e) which is Issac backwards because we origanially thought she would be a he and that was the name we had picked.

by Guinevere

On May 11, 2011 at 1:17 pm

Instead of going really wacky, I prefer to go old fashioned or cultural. My daughter, Prudence Akin, is actually both (akin being a Tagalog word meaning mine). Her name satisfied everything my husband and I were looking for. Prudence is a respectable name as an adult while Pru is a cute nick name for a kid, it’s very special to us (listened to The Beatles on our first date) and Akin serves as reminder to her heritage and family, most of which still lives in the Philippines.

I grew up with the name Jennifer (dreadfully common) and changed it to Guinevere when I was 20. It wasn’t just that I felt the name was too common but it didn’t mean anything to my parents. When I asked why I was named that they said just because we liked it. Wasn’t special at all. Naming your child is such a momentous occasion. It shouldn’t be spur of the moment or just to go with the flow. Your kids will ask you why you chose their name one day. Make sure you have a good answer!

by Kelli Anderson

On May 11, 2011 at 1:23 pm

I named my baby girl Journey Reese. Most people love it. Some of my older generation family do not, but that’s ok. She is my baby and I can name her what I want.

by Monica

On May 11, 2011 at 1:53 pm

Wanted something unique but not too complicated for our daughter.. I heard a TV character named Arianna called Ari for short and thought it was short and sweet and let my husband choose a middle name which he wanted to reflect her Hispanic roots so we chose Ari Valeria which suits her perfectly: Ari means Lion of God And Valeria means valiant

by Jennifer S.

On May 11, 2011 at 1:55 pm

We picked out our daughter’s name, Arya Kendall, together. My husband got Arya from the book Eragon by Christopher Paolini, and I chose Kendall after my husband, Kenneth, since I wouldn’t agree to name any sons after him. I wanted something uncommon since my name was ridiculously popular (I was one of 5 Jennifers in one class). Her name fits her beautifully and we get loads of complements on it.

by Leigh

On May 11, 2011 at 2:09 pm

Our daughter’s name is Elliot True, and we love it!

by Amy

On May 11, 2011 at 5:08 pm

For me, common names were simply out of the question. I’m just not a fan! My son’s name does not appear in name books and I am thankful for that and HOPE it stays that way!! I think some celebrities have taken it too far though. But whatever. I think everyone can name their children what they like and thankfully we don’t all like the same names. How boring would that be?! It’s refreshing to hear new names.

by cathi k

On May 11, 2011 at 6:01 pm

My son’s name is William Virgil. Most people get the William- it’s after MY Dad, but the Virgil was my Uncle and he was very dear to me. This way my family lives on in my son’s names and I feel connected to them even tho both of these men are deceased.

My son’s name is Tristan Allen. I couldn’t decide on that or Liam Alexander but Allen is my fathers and youngest brother middle names so I thought I would pass it on to my son. I haven’t heard the name Tristan alot so I decided on that name. I didn’t want my son to have a common name.

by Ana

On May 12, 2011 at 9:29 pm

My daughter’s name is Ayra Ariana. I love it so much. When I was pregnant I chose Ayra, later after I gave birth to her.. when I saw her for the first time… I decided to put Ariana as her middle name.

by danial

On May 13, 2011 at 2:12 pm

We named our son Sebastian Danger. Sebastian has been my favorite name forever. It’s an uncommon name. We chose to give him an unusual middle name because middle names are more for fun and less for function. If we had a girl, we were going to name her Nova Elizabeth. A little wacky but not crazy wacky.

by Meko

On May 14, 2011 at 9:19 pm

My girls are named Devyn and Rhyan, middle names are Ariele and Lynele. So they have gender neutral first names but feminine middle names. I don’t really consider that wacky, people make prejudgements based on gender and I want that to be a little harder to do with my girls. If someone sees the name and assumes “x,” I want them to have to erase their bias when a young lady walks in and judge her instead on her own merits.

by Becca

On May 16, 2011 at 8:31 pm

My eldest son is 11 yo Thomas Jay, My parents named him the first boy of 5 daughters and 2 granddaughters. I wanted to name him Bryce Jay, but and happy I didn’t because it is now quite popular. My second is 4 yo Kellen Anakin. Anakin started as a joke Fredrick Anakin, my husbands family has a habit of using family names all first boys have the middle name Melbourne; we hated it. my family likes original names; so much in fact my cousin had to ask me to name her son after his late grandfather, I of course said yes please do. His Grandmothers name is Lita, daughter is Lita and granddaughter is Lita all with different middle names.

by Krystyna

On May 17, 2011 at 5:14 pm

Emerald Cecelia.

We figured if she wants to be overly normal, she can go with Emma, or Eva; or if she wants to be “slightly different” Emer (a popular name in Ireland, not in the US).

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